WayBeyond Appoints Head of Industry Transformation to Drive Sustainability Agenda

WayBeyond’s vision is to transform the agricultural industry. This is a declaration of intent and to give this intent focus and leadership, Kylie Horomia has been appointed into a new role as Head of Industry Transformation. Ms. Horomia holds a Masters in International Communications, 20 years in communications and almost 10 years in the Horticulture industry, most notably with T&G Global and recently with Autogrow where she was Head of Brand & Communications.

 “Kylie is a passionate and respected communications specialist and industry advocate, who has provided the next level of thinking around our story and will begin working on our long-term global sustainability strategy. This includes ensuring we deliver on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and formalizing and extending the work we have been doing on industry education, connecting the eco-system and our own graduate and internship program,” says CEO & Founder Darryn Keiller.

 The key to the transformation of anything is the transformation from the inside. In the context of agtech, this means ushering in a new generation of farmers, scientists, and technologists. Addressing Zero Hunger (including reduction of waste), Clean Water & Sanitation, Sustainable Cities, and the evolution of Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure; will take creativity and collaboration.

 “With our WayBeyond team based in New Zealand, the Netherlands, and United States and employees from 15 cultures; we celebrate our diversity, which critically includes the diversity of thinking required to solve the world’s greatest food production challenges," explains Mr. Keiller.

 Ms. Horomia is also on the Executive Board of the NZ Guild of Agricultural Journalists and Communicators and worked to develop the Global CEA Census alongside New York-based industry partner Agritecture Consulting.
“I’m very excited about this new opportunity. AgTech is an amazingly fast-paced industry to be in and the work we are doing to grow food sustainably using science and technology is something of which I am incredibly proud. I will continue to promote the inclusion of STEM disciplines to reduce food waste, increase the efficiency of natural resources, and make a positive impact on growers, the environment and communities we operate within,” says Ms Horomia.

 Ms Horomia will take up the role effective immediately.

 To learn more about WayBeyond and follow Kylie’s transformation of the brand, please go to www.waybeyond.io

 For further information, interviews and images, please contact
Kathy Cunningham
(e) kathy@empirepr.co.nz
(m) +6421 743 378

About WayBeyond

The WayBeyond Vision is to transform the agricultural industry to produce food sustainably for everyone on the planet.

The Mission is to break boundaries to explore new ways of farming so our solutions benefit every farm in the world (and beyond). This includes sharing knowledge and expertise with data, artificial intelligence, and plant science to transform the way growers farm. www.waybeyond.io

Lettuce Losses Could Cause Shortage Across U.S.

Crop Losses Lead To Supply Chain Disruptions, Beyond COVID-19

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NOVEMBER 13, 2020

Lettuce crop losses in California could affect availability and prices at Texas grocery stores and restaurants and highlights the fragility of the nation’s food supply chain, said Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service experts.

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Twelve cultivars of bibb, loose-leaf, and romaine lettuce being grown hydroponically using the nutrient film technique. Most lettuce in Texas is grown in greenhouses like these. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo)

Lettuce growers in central California experienced unseasonably high temperatures and crop disease that caused severe losses to iceberg and romaine varieties.

David Anderson, AgriLife Extension economist, Bryan-College Station, said the shortage is another instance of the nation’s food supply chain being disrupted.

Anderson said lettuce is one product in a long list of perishable food items that are produced to serve a “just-in-time inventory” for retail grocers, restaurants and ultimately consumers.

“Consumers have dealt with shortages related to COVID-19 disruptions most recently, but it looks like this is weather- and disease-related losses that resulted in supply issues,” he said. “We grow accustomed to seeing lettuce at the grocery store year-round, but a lot of folks don’t know we rely on producers all around the country and beyond to serve that year-round availability.”

Lettuce is a cool-season crop and performs best at 60-65 degrees. The crop requires temperatures stay consistently below 80 degrees, accompanied by cool night temperatures.

Anderson said Texas and the rest of the U.S. rely on growers in specific microclimates domestically, but also in Canada, Mexico and other parts of the world, to produce certain products like lettuce and spinach to meet year-round demand. The heatwave in California accompanied by leaf spot disrupted the harvest that growers’ in Salinas provide to meet demand now.

“In a couple of weeks it’ll be another areas turn to meet that demand, and so on, but it just shows how delicate the system can be if there is an issue in the supply chain,” he said.

Fresh produce takes time and timing

Juan Anciso, Ph.D., AgriLife Extension horticulturist, Weslaco, said Texas producers grow very little lettuce aside from niche-market growers who supply restaurants, specialty grocers and directly to consumers. But the region is part of the national supply chain for cool season produce.

Growers in the Rio Grande Valley, for instance produce thousands of acres of cool-season produce – mostly onions, leafy greens like spinach and kale, and carrots.

The planting window is critical for those cool season crops because of the time they take to mature, he said.

Onions take 160-170 days from seed to harvest. Cabbage takes 90-110 days, and carrots take 90-plus days for fresh market and 150-180 days for fields destined for processing.

“California is the breadbasket of America when it comes to many varieties of produce, including various kinds of lettuce,” he said. “The growing season moves north and south as seasonal temperatures dictate the crop, planting time and harvest.”

Anciso said these crops are also very dependent on timing because they are only marketable for a week or two once harvested.

“These are all extremely perishable foods,” he said. “They are grown, harvested and go directly to the stores, so timing the logistics of that is critical to supplying demand. We expect to see a head of lettuce when we go into a grocery store and take the process for granted until it’s not there.”

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Adam Russell

903-834-6191

adam.russell@ag.tamu.edu

AUSTRALIA: Food In The Capital

Shayna Siakimotu 17 November 2020

Where:

Online and Kambri ANU

When:

17 November 2020, 9:00 am to 5:00 pm

18 May 2021, 9:00 am to 5:00 pm

16 November 2021, 9:00 am to 5:00 pm

Canberra’s First Ever Sustainable Food Event Is Here

Starting on 17 November 2020, Canberra will play host to Food in the Capital, a first-of-its kind, sustainable food conference program.
The 3-event series, scheduled across 12 months, set out to connect people from across the industry including farmers, food businesses and manufacturers, community groups, thought leaders and policy makers.The focus will be on food production, consumption and technology and is the first of its kind in the region.

Tickets starting $297 and are for all 3 events.

17 Nov '20 | 18 May '21 | 16-17 Nov '21

The three events set out to connect people from across the industry including farmers, food businesses and manufacturers, community groups, thought leaders and policy makers.

Improvements to our Food System envisaged at FIC could conservatively:

• Generate up to 3,000 jobs for the local economy.

• Reduce Canberran’s grocery costs by $200 million.

View the program and speakers online and get your tickets today!

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Join Canberra’s first ever sustainable food event, starting 17 November 2020. Photo: Supplied.

The Details

What: Food in the Capital – Sustainable food event
When: 17 November 2020, 18 May 2021, 16 November 2021
Where: Online and Kambri Centre ANU, Acton ACT 2601
Cost: Tickets start from $297 (+ booking fee) and covers entry to all 3 events. Single event tickets are not available

For more information, visit Food in the Capital.

How Hydroponics & Vertical Farming Can Improve Food Safety

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Our greenhouse team member utilizing food safety best practices at our R&D facility.

The United States Department of Agriculture sometimes refers to vertical farming as “controlled-environment agriculture” and there’s a good reason for this moniker. 

Viraj Puri, co-founder, and CEO of a hydroponic vertical farm told Food Safety News that the hydroponic vegetable industry has a built-in food safety advantage over open-field farming. He believes that this advantage comes from its “physical infrastructure and higher levels of environmental controls.”

In recent years, the safety of our food supply has been called into question. Numerous food recalls are a regular part of news broadcasts across the country. Recently, it was found that fruit and vegetables failed import safety checks at a rate of 12.5%. At the same time, other categories such as meat, fish, and eggs, achieved compliance rates over 95%.

National producers of fruit and vegetables have also had problems. The recent outbreak related to contaminated romaine lettuce originated in California. This year’s recalls of onions and peaches also originated domestically. 

Vertical farms using hydroponic technologies could usher in a revolution in food safety. Hydroponic growing has a plethora of food safety benefits. Year after year, pathogens are found in traditionally-grown (or soil-grown) crops. This is because the soil itself contains naturally-occurring pathogens, and traditional farms are open to contamination from outside sources such as animal droppings and tainted run-off. Hydroponic farming has the potential to drastically reduce the number of people who get sick via foodborne illness every year by eliminating these pathogens from the growing process. 

Foodborne illnesses have originated from traditionally grown crops over and over, and the problem is growing. It’s important to understand the dangers of these foodborne illnesses, as well as what “food safety” is and how every individual along the food supply chain has a role to play. Fortunately, recent food safety news gives us hope that hydroponics can improve food safety. 

Why We Need A Culture of Food Safety: The Dangers of Foodborne Illnesses               

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 48 million people get sick (1 in 6), 128,000 are hospitalized, and 3,000 die from foodborne illnesses each year in the U.S. Food can be contaminated by many different disease-causing germs. There are many different types of foodborne illnesses (sometimes described as food poisoning or foodborne disease). Over 250 types of foodborne illnesses have so far been identified. The majority are infections caused by bacteria, parasites, and viruses. Food can also be contaminated with harmful toxins and chemicals. 

Food may become contaminated during any stage of the food supply chain; from production, distribution, processing, preparation, to storage. Germs can spread to food from unclean utensils, surfaces, or equipment. And it’s not uncommon for these contaminated foods to make it to market and into kitchens and restaurants before anyone knows there is a problem.

What is Food Safety? 

“Food safety” describes all operations and practices that are utilized to keep food safe. Keeping food safe is a joint effort involving everyone in the food supply chain. All along the food supply chain—from producers and farmers to wholesalers and retailers— there are standardized regulations and controls in place to reduce the risk of food contamination. 

Part of food safety practices involves growing, handling, preparing, packaging, and storing food in a way that best reduces the risk of people getting ill from foodborne diseases. Food safety is a concern all over the world and one that we should take great care to address.

The fundamental principles of food safety focus on preventing food from becoming contaminated and causing food poisoning. This is achieved through several different methods, some of which include:

• Understanding food allergies, food intolerance, and food poisoning

• Keeping up high standards of personal hygiene (i.e hand-washing) when handling food at any step in the food supply chain

• Storing, heating, and cooling food properly with regard to temperature, environment, and equipment

• Using effective and adequate pest control measures

• Cleaning and sanitizing all surfaces, utensils, and equipment

How Hydroponics Can Improve Food Safety

Unlike in traditional farming, wildlife and livestock can’t contaminate produce grown in a vertical farm’s greenhouses. It’s almost impossible to prevent such contamination in traditional agriculture where wide open fields are susceptible to bird droppings and animal encroachment. 

Although there aren’t industry-wide food safety standards for hydroponic growers, the vast majority of companies have rigorous processes in place. Joel Cuello, Vice-Chair at the Association for Vertical Farming, said “vertical farms are, in fact, generally and significantly safer than conventional agriculture”. He believes that the reason many vertical farms don’t have internationally recognized food safety certifications is because their stellar food safety reputation is proof enough.

Since vertical farms use a hydroponic system for watering, there’s very little chance that contamination from water will infect the produce. Hydroponic systems add nutrients to tested or purified water and then apply that water directly to the plants’ roots. The system completely bypasses the use of soil, which is a possible contaminant with a lengthy history of getting people very sick. Hydroponic technology also avoids the problem of runoff from nearby sources of toxic chemicals or biological waste.

Food Safety News: Soil and E. coli  

In recent food safety news, the major E. coli outbreak that started in September of 2019 and related to romaine lettuce seems to be over. Epidemiologic, laboratory, and traceback evidence conclusively showed where the contaminated romaine lettuce came from. The produce that made people sick in September of last year is no longer available for sale. However, it was grown in soil and harvested in the Salinas Valley growing region. 

A total of 167 individuals from across 27 states were infected with the outbreak strain of E. coli O157:H7. Eighty-five people were hospitalized due to this outbreak, including 15 who developed hemolytic uremic syndrome—a kind of kidney failure. Luckily, no deaths were reported.

Some think E. coli results in little more than an upset stomach, but outbreaks can be very serious affairs and in some cases have caused death. At best, it causes vomiting, diarrhea, and stomach cramps; let alone an long-term aversion to lettuce after getting sick. 

Hydroponic Greenhouses Are Safer Than Soil-Based Farming 

The Centers for Disease Control, the Food and Drug Administration, and public health officials investigated the most recent E. coli outbreak in the United States. Their recommendation said that hydroponic-grown lettuce was not related to the current outbreak. In their words, “there is no recommendation for consumers to avoid using romaine harvested from these other sources.”

Hydroponic Growing Offers Many Food Safety Benefits 

• Hydroponic growing does not require high levels of pesticides and uses less water, land, and fertilizers than conventional farming.

• Vertical farms also use a soilless medium for growing their plants. This means that food products are not infected by pathogens that can sometimes contaminate soil and be passed to traditionally grown crops.

• Greenhouse vertical farms are highly controlled environments in which the light intensity, temperature, and humidity are closely monitored and controlled and the growing solution is strictly regulated. With so many levels of checks and controls, it is far less likely that pathogens and toxins could be introduced into these closed environments.

• 
  Eden Green Technology offers hydroponic systems that can help create a healthier food supply. Learn more about how to safely grow delicious produce here.

VIDEO: Vertical Farming To Prevent Food Loss In A Disaster

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October 17th, 2020

Indoor vertical farming startup Plenty Inc. is working to deliver year-round produce from its controlled, resilient farms to avoid food loss during disastrous flooding, droughts, or fires.

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Matt Barnard, co-founder, and chief executive officer of Plenty, Inc. discusses the company's series D funding round on "Bloomberg Technology." (Source: Bloomberg)

California Wildfires And Food Security

09-17-20

CO2GRO

As wildfires ravage through the State of California, we at CO2 GRO offer our deepest sympathies to those who have been greatly affected. 

According to this article by Growing Produce, “On the whole, the fires have not invaded growing fields. However, several growing areas lie close to the fires.” Hopefully, the fires can be controlled and farms spared.

However, the smoke from these fires are wreaking havoc to nearby farms, especially outdoor farms. The article lists the following negative impacts from poor quality, smoke-filled air:

• With less sunlight reaching crops, crops develop more slowly.

• Less sunlight can lead to higher disease loads. Obviously, when ash coats the leaves and fruit, crops have even less access to light.

• Protecting workers delays harvest, leading to destroying overly ripe crops.

• Some crops absorb enough smoke to change the flavor. During the 2018 fire season, several vineyards were unable to sell their grapes.

Protected Cultivation

While most outdoor growers will experience the negative impacts of smoke, protected cultivation facilities such as greenhouses have the ability to cope. LED lighting, frequent air exchange, protected structures and more environmental control enable greenhouses to provide their plants a more consistent environment for growth, despite the conditions outside. Protected structures also offer a safer environment for workers.

CO2 Gas Supply

CO2 gas supply shortages in California as a result of COVID-19 and now with fires causing several disruptions in the supply chain have hampered sealed greenhouses and indoor cultivation facilities. Supply has significantly slowed and prices have risen. Several cultivation facilities have temporarily stopped using CO2 gas for growing, thus hampering crop yields by up to 30%.

CO2 Delivery Solutions™

CO2 Delivery Solutions™ offers greenhouse and indoor growers the opportunity to supplement their plants with CO2 while using over 90% less gas versus traditional atmospheric enrichment. In difficult times like this being experienced in California, ensuring our food supply with the highest yields possible is paramount. Greenhouses and indoor cultivation facilities with optimal yield enhancing technologies that require minimal resources, such as CO2 Delivery Solutions™, provide food supply security to consumers while protecting growers’ people and profits.

CO2 Delivery Solutions™ also provides a method for sequestering CO2 gas by providing it as an input for plants to grow. Nearly all the CO2 provided to the plants through CO2 Delivery Solutions™ aqueous CO2 mist is sequestered by the plant. Unlike CO2 gassing in which approximately half the CO2 gas that is pumped into the grow room leaks back into the atmosphere. 

For more information on CO2 Delivery Solutions™, watch this video and explore our website.

US: Throw Away Your Onions, They're Being Recalled Over Salmonella

It Started With Red Onions, But Now The Recall

Has Expanded Quite A Bit

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By Dustin Nelson

Updated on 8/14/2020

The FDA says you probably need to chuck your onions in the bin. A recall of the delicious tear-inducing vegetable is happening over a "multistate outbreak of Salmonella Newport infections."

The FDA has tracked the outbreak back to Thomson International, Inc. in California, but if you're like me, the onions in your kitchen don't have a label on them. In that case, the FDA says you should throw them out. "If you cannot tell if your onion is part of the recall, or your food product contains recalled onions, you should not eat, sell, or serve it, and should throw it out," the FDA says in its announcement. 

Anything from Thomson shipped since May 1, 2020, is part of the recall. 

The initial recall was on red onions, which are believed to be the source of the problem. However, the recall has expanded to include red, yellow, white, and sweet yellow onions due to the potential for cross-contamination. Currently, the CDC is reporting cases of Salmonella in 34 states with 396 reported illnesses and 59 hospitalizations. The name of the company may not be familiar, but the products have been distributed in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Canada, where there is also a recall. The US recall started on August 1, a day after the Public Health Agency of Canada issued a recall on red onions from Thomson International."

The onions were distributed... under the brand names Thomson Premium, TLC Thomson International, Tender Loving Care, El Competitor, Hartley’s Best, Onions 52, Majestic, Imperial Fresh, Kroger, Utah Onions, and Food Lion," the recall states. You can find a list of label images in the FDA recall.

There are a whole lot of varieties of the recalled packaging, with some having been sold at Kroger and Walmart locations. 

The FDA and CDC ask that anyone experiencing symptoms contact their health care provider immediately. Symptoms of salmonellosis include diarrhea, fever, and stomach cramps. If it gets more severe, symptoms may also include a fever, aches, headaches, lethargy, rash, and blood in urine or stool, the FDA says.

So, check the kitchen and don't risk it.

Lead photo: SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

Soil-Free Farming Could Prevent Future Food Insecurity

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27th July 2020 Pippa Neill

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Researchers have identified a new method of soil-free farming that can help to improve food security as climate change and soil erosion limit our ability to grow crops. 

The research, which was conducted by scientists at the University of Bristol, John Innes Centre and LettUs Grow, highlights how vertical farming can help to produce consistent crop yields, improve price stabilization and encourage food cultivation in places that are incompatible with certain crops such as the desert or the arctic.

Vertical farming is a type of indoor agriculture where crops are cultivated in stacked systems with water, lighting, and nutrient sources carefully controlled.

The researchers tested aeroponic cultivation methods which use nutrient-enriched aerosols in place of soil that is then applied directly to the roots.

This method is believed to lead to up to 70% greater yields of crops.

There are many environmental benefits of such techniques, including better use of space because vertical farms can be built in disused urban locations, fewer food miles, reduction in soil degradation and nutrient and water recapturing and recycling.

Lead-author of the study, Bethany Eldridge from the University of Bristol said: ‘Given that 80% of agricultural land worldwide is reported to have moderate or severe erosion, the ability to grow crops in a soil-free system with minimal fertilizers and pesticides is advantageous because it provides an opportunity to grow crops in areas facing soil erosion or other environmental issues.

‘We are aware that higher yields can be obtained from plants grown in aeroponic vertical farming set-ups, however, we still have relatively little knowledge about how plants grow and respond to the soil-less growing environment during aeroponic cultivation.

‘This knowledge would be important for fine-tuning the growing environment to encourage the growth of these beneficial microbes or the development of a probiotic mixture, similar to a probiotic yoghurt, that could be added as a supplement to help boost plant performance.’

Photo Credit – Pixaba y

Salmonella Has Found A Way To Evade Plant Defenses

By Chrissy Sexton

Earth.com staff writer

Researchers at the University of Delaware have discovered that wild strains of salmonella can evade a plant’s immune defenses by invading the leaves through the stomata. The invaded plant does not show any obvious signs of infection, and the pathogens cannot be simply rinsed off, which means they can easily jump to people.

Stomata are tiny pores that open when there is plenty of sunlight for photosynthesis and close at night. The pores also close upon detection of threats such as drought or microbial pathogens.

Study co-author Professor Harsh Bais explained that some pathogens like fungi can barge into a closed stoma using brute force. Since bacteria lack the enzymes needed to use this type of force, they search for openings in the roots and stomata.

According to Professor Bais, however, bacterial pathogens like salmonella have now found a way to reopen closed stomata and gain entry to the plant.

“What’s new is how the non-host bacteria are evolving to bypass plant immune response. They are real opportunists. They are absolutely jumping kingdoms. When we see these unusual interactions, that’s where it starts to get complex,” said Professor Bais.

The risk of pathogen contamination increases when plants are bred to produce higher yields, or when low-lying crops are grown too close to a livestock field. The researchers have been investigating these issues for about five years.

Companies take various precautions to kill surface bacteria, but they can’t see or treat human pathogens that already have gotten into the leaf.

“The food industry works tirelessly to make the product as safe as they can,” said study co-author Professor Kali Kniel. “But even then, we are growing these products outside, so they’re accessible to wildlife, wind, dust, and water that may transmit microorganisms. It’s a tough situation.”

Graduate student Nicholas Johnson conducted extensive lab experiments to examine how stomata on spinach and lettuce respond to salmonella, Listeria, and E. coli – three human pathogens that leave no trace of infection. He tracked the size of the stomata openings every three hours after the bacteria were introduced.

“He had to sit under a microscope and count the aperture sizes,” said Professor Bais. “And he has to be meticulous.” The tedious work revealed that the salmonella strain was reopening the stomata. “Now we have a human pathogen trying to do what plant pathogens do. That is scary,” noted Bais.

The researchers said it would be particularly scary if salmonella invaded plants on a vertical farm, where plants are grown in vertical rows hydroponically. “If this hits vertical farms, they don’t lose a batch, they lose the whole house,” said Bais.

“This project has mutant Salmonella strains and that allows us another angle on the molecular biology side,” said Professor Kniel. “The individual mutations are important for the salmonella structure and the regulation of stress.”

“When we used mutant strains we saw big differences in the ability to colonize and internalize – and that’s what consumers hear a lot about. You are not able to wash it off.”

“We can also look at which genes or part of the organism might be more responsible for the persistence on the plant – making it last longer and stronger. That is so important when you think of food safety issues.”

The study is published in the journal Frontiers in Microbiology.

By Chrissy Sexton, Earth.com Staff Writer

US - TEXAS - 5 Reasons To Try Foodscaping Your Lawn

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July 1, 2020, By Jenna Careri

For many Texans tired of driving to the grocery store for their weekly produce, foodscaping is becoming an increasingly attractive alternative. Instead of a yard full of grass, foodscaping is a landscaping technique that covers all usable space with an arrangement of plants that can be eaten.

If you own a home, there’s a good chance you have some form of landscaping in your yard, whether it’s shady trees or blooming flowers. But combining your landscaping with foodscapes could provide a visually appealing yard that also produces meals – and will help you cut back on your gas and grocery bills. Without further ado, here are four reasons to give it a go.

1. Fresh produce without a trip to the store.

Foodscaping offers an ultra-convenient alternative to going to the grocery store to buy produce. Instead, fresh produce is just steps from your kitchen. Foodscaping also gives you control over the quality of the food you eat. You’ll have organic, pesticide-free food at your fingertips every day!

2. Reduce your carbon footprint.

Speaking of cutting out trips to the grocery store, foodscaping can help you cut back on your carbon footprint! Fewer trips to the store mean you can avoid the carbon emissions from your car, as well as the emissions from shipping produce across the country to the supermarket. Most of the fruits and veggies at the grocery store travel hundreds of miles in inefficient refrigerated trucks that are environmentally taxing.

3. Cut down on your gas and grocery bills.

Reducing the number of trips you take in your car means you’ll save money on gas. However, foodscaping can also help you save on your grocery bills. The upfront cost is roughly equivalent to landscaping with trees, shrubs, and sod. But over time, edible plants can pay for themselves. The fresh fruits and vegetables harvested from your yard year after year can save you a bundle on groceries. Some have claimed to save more than $1,000 a year by dedicating some yard space to food.

4. Save time and energy with low-maintenance plants.

It may seem like an edible yard is a huge time commitment, but it doesn’t have to be. If you choose hearty plants that are native to your area, they will grow easily with little effort on your part.

• In hot climates, such as Texas, look for plants that require little water. Beans, spinach, tomatoes, cabbage, and broccoli do well in drought-like conditions.

• In humid conditions, such as those found in Florida or Hawaii, try your hand at tropical fruits such as pineapple, bananas, and mangos.

• For colder climates without frost, plant blueberries, strawberries, melons, and rhubarb that will add color to your yard. Plenty of tree varieties do well in this type of climate as well, so you can enjoy fresh cherries, plums, olives, and almonds.

• In the extreme cold, you’ll want to grow hardy plants that can withstand the cold. Broccoli, cabbage, carrots, peas, radishes, and chard do well in cold climates. There are also many berries, nuts, and fruits that can survive the bitter cold.

5. Find a creative outlet.

Especially during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, many have turned to gardening as a creative outlet while they are working from home. Foodscaping can help you avoid extra trips to the grocery store, and you may find maintaining your yard can become a calming and enjoyable hobby rather than a chore.

China Demands COVID-19 Declaration On U.S. Export

Tom Karst

June 26, 2020

Chinese customs officials are demanding U.S. ag exporters sign a form guaranteeing their exports are free from COVID-19, trade and government reports say. That demand has sparked pushback from trade industry leaders and the Trump administration.“

The recent move by Chinese authorities to require a statement of undertaking for food importers is not based on any legitimate food safety concern,” according to a statement from Western Growers president and CEO Dave Puglia.

Western Growers members and exporters of table grapes, apples, nectarines, almonds, and pistachios are among those who have been asked to sign the form, said Cory Lunde, senior director of strategic initiatives and communications for Western Growers".

“Our food system is the safest in the world, and the known science behind the transmission of COVID-19 is inconsistent with the Chinese government’s call for more restrictive food safety-related trade measures,” Puglia said in the statement.“

Indeed, the very food safety guidance referenced in the required statement — issued by the United Nations and World Health Organization — affirms that there is ‘no evidence to date’ of COVID-19 being transmitted through food or food packaging. This point is important for our domestic consumers to remember, as well.”Efforts by some countries to restrict global food exports related to COVID-19 transmission are not consistent with the known science of transmission of COVID-19, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue and Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn said in a joint statement.“

There is no evidence that people can contract COVID-19 from food or from food packaging. The U.S. food safety system, overseen by our agencies, is the global leader in ensuring the safety of our food products, including product for export,” Perdue and Hahn said in the statement.

Puglia said the viability of many U.S. farms depends on international trade with key partners like China. “At a time when American farmers are still trying to dig themselves out of a coronavirus-induced financial hole, it will be difficult for the industry to absorb further losses due to unfounded demands like this,” he said in the statement. “We are aware that the Trump administration has objected to China’s actions and request that the administration continue to pressure the Chinese government until it reverses this ill-timed and scientifically indefensible trade barrier.”

The Washington D.C.-based Agriculture Transportation Coalition said in an e-mail to members that U.S. exporters are reluctant to sign the General Administration of Customs China form guaranteeing their exports are free from COVID-19. “Instead, some (coalition) members report that they are sending their own ‘Commitment Statements’ along with the cargo,” according to the e-mail. “While China Customs has not confirmed that these statements are acceptable substitutes for the official form, we are hearing that exporters sending these statements have not encountered any issues so far with their customers clearing cargo in China,”

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Lead Photo: File photo

 The Packer's COVID-19 UpdatesThe Packer's China Upates  

Related Topics: Exports USDA Western Growers China

Agri-Khalifa: Agriculture Skyscraper For Dubai

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Editors’ Choice

2020 Skyscraper Competition

Zeng Shaoting, Liu Chenyang
China

Dubai is one of the most popular cities in the world, lies directly within the Arabian Desert. With sandy desert surrounded, Dubai has a hot desert climate. Summers in Dubai are extremely hot, windy, and humid, with an average high around 41 °C (106 °F) and overnight lows around 30 °C (86 °F) in the hottest month, August. Most days are sunny throughout the year. Winters are comparatively cool with an average high of 24 °C (75 °F) and overnight lows of 14 °C (57 °F) in January, the coolest month. Desert terrain, extremely high temperatures, and limited rainfall have historically made agriculture unworkable in Dubai and the United Arab Emirates

Dubai currently imports over 80% of its food. The main food influences were from nearby countries such as Saudi Arabia, Oman, Iran, East Africa, and Indian. In order to reach the city’s targets, locally grown food not only has to expand its growth rapidly, but it also has to meet the uncompromising health standards of the UAE, and cater to the diverse population that enjoys a wide variety of international food.

The Burj Khalifa, known as a skyscraper in Dubai, has been the tallest structure and building in the world since its topping out in 2009. Our skyscraper project is Agri Khalifa aimed to use innovative agricultural technology to find ways to grow locally-sourced produce in Dubai and change its current state.

Agri Khalifa is a vertical farm located in the desert area of Dubai, going with a big factory that includes energy, transportation system. There is sufficient solar and wind energy in the desert, and we build a series of energy collect system to supply electricity to the farm. We apply many advantages of current vertical farm technologies, such as lighting system, which uses a series of variable color LEDs, for instance, we can use ultra-violate light to shorten the span of plant growth to improve the production.

Skyscraper is a perfect medium for vertical farms, especially in the desert climate condition. We utilize space as much as possible. No winter in the desert, so we omit the curtain wall of the building, making use of the natural condition of Dubai.

We use robotic arms and elevators to pick up mature plants automatically. There are rail trails beneath the building, and we can use railway transportation to conduct remote carriage to the urban and living area of Dubai.

Up to 20 units of outdoor farmland per unit of vertical farming could return to its natural state, due to vertical farming’s increased productivity. Vertical farming would reduce the amount of farmland, thus saving many natural resources.

Deforestation and desertification caused by agricultural encroachment on natural biomes could be avoided. Producing food indoors reduces or eliminates conventional plowing, planting, and harvesting by farm machinery, protecting soil, and reducing emissions.

Traditional farming is often invasive to the native flora and fauna because it requires such a large area of arable land. One study showed that wood mouse populations dropped from 25 per hectare to 5 per hectare after harvest, estimating ten animals killed per hectare each year with conventional farming. In comparison, vertical farming would cause nominal harm to wildlife because of its limited space usage.

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Babylon Micro-Farms On Why Controlled Environmental Agriculture Will Revolutionize Food Security

Indoor Farming Will Drive

A Post-Pandemic Food Supply Reset

ALEXANDER OLESEN

JUNE 12, 2020

The coronavirus pandemic is shining a harsh and revealing spotlight on the fragility of our food supply. We can thank a globalized and fragile food supply chain for the empty grocery shelves, rising food prices, desperate farmers, and ominous indications of future food disruptions. The coronavirus pandemic is a historic anomaly we have not experienced in our living history and its effect on our food supply cannot be dismissed. It has taken what had been warnings and made them a reality. But, there is a silver lining in the chaos of our new food reality. Consumer and institutional interest in sustainable food production were growing by leaps and bounds before COVID-19. In the pandemic, we are primed to make real, significant changes. The controlled environment agriculture industry -- solutions as wide-ranging as solar-powered greenhouse growing; hydroponics and aeroponics; vertical farms have grown under LED lights in warehouses; and freight containers or refrigerator-size growing units -- will be an essential part of the sustainable food economy of the future. 

Complicated Supply Chains and Food Waste Threaten Our Food Sovereignty

Watching the videos of farmers dumping mountains of zucchini, truckloads of milk and fruit and crops rotting in fields while desperate Americans line up for miles at food banks has been heartbreaking and unsettling. But as shocking as that is, food waste is by no means a new problem. Over ninety-five percent of our leafy greens are grown in California and Arizona. From this drought-threatened region, fragile leafy greens are shipped to multiple distribution points across the U.S., before they finally reach consumers' fridges and then – maybe – their plate. Even once fresh food purchases make it to our homes, consumers alone experience up to 50 percent spoilage. Combine that with unexpected distribution disruptions – as COVID 19 has so recently amplified and we have experienced many times before via foodborne illness outbreaks or climate-change-related weather events – what you get is a highly inefficient process, wasting food that consumers desperately need, and highly vulnerable to food security disruptions that have a nationwide impact.

Reducing transportation miles eliminates a lot of production problems. The more areas growing more food closer to the end consumer results in a more resilient system. It also means a wider selection of fragile fresh greens become viable commercial crops because they can be harvested and consumed quickly. Many biodiverse crop varieties with unique flavors, textures, and nutritional profiles don’t hold up to the long transport miles and processing techniques of industrial agriculture, but with local production, these varieties can become available to consumers again.

Efficient Indoor farming requires a controlled environment. That means we can control insects, diseases and pathogens in a way that simply isn’t possible in large-scale outdoor production methods. This gives us more variability in varieties we can grow — including non-GMO and heirloom cultivars grown without human and earth-damaging pesticides — to produce the freshest and more nutritional food we can. And it puts us incredibly close to the consumer.

In the case of Babylon Micro-Farms, our ‘food miles” are literally as far as it takes to harvest it from one of our on-site micro-farms, plate it up and sit down to eat. The fewer food miles we have to worry about, the more flexibility we have in what can be grown and eaten locally. And the more we can spend our resources working to grow healthy, locally abundant food rather than transportation costs growing crops that were bred to be shipped, not necessarily eaten. 

The 21st Century Needs a “Digital Victory Garden” Renaissance 

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When things really go south, basic needs remain. Food is a big one. That’s why — after the toilet paper panic resided — so many rushed to buy seeds, plant a garden and grow their own food. It is reminiscent of the “Victory Gardens,” the backyard home kitchen gardens, of our last food crises — WWI, the Depression, and WWII — when Americans produced as much as 40 percent of our fresh fruits and vegetables from their own gardens. But today’s world is vastly different from the Victory Garden era of our grandparents. Fifty-five percent of the world’s population currently live in an urban area. That figure is expected to grow to nearly two-thirds over the next thirty years. People in the 21st century don’t have access to a plot of land like their grandparents had. Nor do they have the knowledge or the time to grow food in the traditional ways.

Food is consumed in different ways as well. Once the ‘shelter-in-place’ orders are lifted, we can assume that eating outside of one’s home — in lunch-room business cafeterias, on-the-go, in restaurants, and even when at home, via prepared meals or food kits — will resume, as will financial pressures. Very few families will be able to afford to have a ‘homemaker’ sitting at home making the daily bread from scratch and canning the bumper crop of green beans. Yet, we still need a way to have more control over our own food. And we need to shorten our supply chains to build up resilient, localized foodsheds for our urban populations. But we won’t be able to do it the same way our grandparents did. Luckily, we do have advantages they didn’t — technology, data collection, and analysis. That’s where indoor, controlled environment vertical farms come into play. We are the “Digital Victory Gardens” of the future.

It Will Take Baby Steps, and Many Innovative Solutions, to Reframe our Food Supply 

Just a few years ago indoor hydroponic or aeroponic farming under LED lights was perceived as an impractical solution for food production, cost-prohibitive, and unable to produce significant yields. That didn’t stop those of us who saw the potential to develop technology to improve efficiency, increase yields, and ultimately transform this fringe method of crop cultivation into a mainstream industry that future generations can rely on for their fresh produce.

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As our technology and expertise evolves, the cost of production is falling and the knowledge and ability to grow more crops more efficiently in indoor environments is increasing. We are also finding different ways to serve different market sectors with a year-round supply of fresh produce, all via indoor farming solutions. The AeroFarms, Plenty, and Bowerys of the world, with their impressively large warehouses stacked sky-high with leafy greens, are serving the wholesale grocery market needs of their local foodsheds. Whereas here at Babylon Micro-Farms we focus on hyper-local vertical ‘micro-farms.’ We are the vertical farm equivalent of locally controlled, small-scale food production. Only we do it via a remotely managed, data-driven, resource-efficient core technology platform. 

Babylon was founded on the principles of developing integrated technology to address the missing link that makes vertical farming inaccessible to most communities and organizations. Our belief is that there is a significant untapped opportunity in creating smaller-scale modular indoor farming solutions that can “plug in” to existing food supply chains. However, in order for these solutions to work, they needed to be powered by a comprehensive operating system that enables all of the technical and operational expertise to be outsourced and controlled remotely through the cloud with a meal-prep style subscription of growing supplies delivered as needed to each farm installation. Our modular controlled environment farms can be placed in almost any business lunchroom, healthcare or educational cafeteria or group-living situation like retirement communities. The service is designed to allow anyone to successfully ‘grow their own food’ indoors by supporting them with on-demand delivery of supplies, a Guided Growing app and a remote-managed system. The operating system we have developed is designed to support a range of modular systems and the data we collect allows us to continually refine the user experience, improve yields, and make this kind of crop cultivation accessible to those who need it most.

The point is vertical indoor controlled environment farming is not a one size fits all solution. That’s the beauty of it. There are countless ways this new technology can (and will be) adapted to fit the many needs of our world’s food system. But it’s not just indoor farming innovations that will revolutionize our food system. We are part of a bigger ecosystem that includes innovations like plant-based protein, advances in solar and wind power, robotics, AI technology and carbon-based, and regenerative farming techniques. Together, we are already disrupting the food system as we currently know it. After the COVID 19 coronavirus pandemic recedes, we will completely reshape it.

Don’t Dismiss the Power of Being Involved in Food Production

At Babylon Micro-Farms our ‘micro-farm’ indoor growing technology puts units right in front of the consumers that have the novel experience of watching and monitoring the food they will eat being grown in real-time. This has given us a unique perspective on the psychological power of keeping people involved in the process of growing their own food, like those old Victory Gardens of old. But in new, novel ways. Our technology takes what had seemed strange and novel and makes it accessible to people without the need for horticulture experience. Our customers have responded with immense excitement, pride, and, most notably, strong interest in more sustainable solutions.

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This feedback has made it obvious to us just how important it is that we include consumers in the food-growing technology of the future. Removing the people from the process of growing the food they consume was a massive mistake that our current food system made and has paid for. The ‘digital’ food solutions of the future must involve consumers, businesses, and institutions as much as possible in the process of growing their own food. Babylon Micro-Farms technology is uniquely positioned to do just this. But other solutions can find similar opportunities. 

It is crucial that we begin giving businesses and their consumers more control over, and more experiences with, how their food is grown. This exposure will lead to people embracing even more sustainable food innovations. We must not leave the end consumer out of the equation.

If we look back in human history there are obvious inflection points. Culturally, economically and psychologically, humans reached a point where they were primed to make giant leaps forward as a society. Among these major shifts are the transition from fragmented hunter-gatherer paradigms to agriculture-based societies, the industrial revolution and the creation of a factory-based economy, and the technological revolution with its modus operandi of data-based solutions.

We are at the precipice of a food renaissance that will completely change how we produce food over the next few decades. Here at Babylon Micro-Farms, we strive to be a leader in this imminent revolution.

https://www.babylonmicrofarms.com/

Webinar - Monday, June 15th - Urban Farming - A Feasible Answer to Food Security?

Join us for the 3rd webinar in the series on the food security issue highlighted by the COVID-19 virus. This time, we'll explore the feasibility of urban farming as one solution to the food security question. Three panelists will present their views with the discussion moderated by Nitza Kardish, PhD., from Trendlines.

Participants may send in questions prior to the webinar to anton@trendlines.com

A link to join the webinar will be sent to all registered participants

Register Here

PAKISTAN: Responding Creatively To Crisis With Non-Traditional Farming

27/05/2020

Rehman produces okra, gourds, melons, and tomatoes in the two tunnel garden units he built in the back yard of his home in Aka Khel, a town in one of Pakistan’s most food-insecure regions. Each less than a meter wide, these creative and economical structures are a type of low-technology greenhouse, consisting of steel tubes clad with a plastic covering and lined with irrigation hoses.

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FAO helped him install these earlier this year and now “it’s a relief at a time when markets and transports are closed due to the pandemic,” he says. He is one of the millions of people around the world responding creatively to mitigate the pandemic’s disruptions to the food supply chain, which risk making food less available where it is needed most due both to logistical bottlenecks and declining incomes triggered by the health emergency. In this scenario, solutions that shorten the food supply chain, including vertical and urban farming have taken on new importance.

Despite the fact that prices for wheat and rice, staple foods for Pakistani families, rose sharply in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province due to COVID-19 restrictions on movement, Rehman was still able to feed his family. With the produce from his garden, they also have a more diversified diet. FAO, working with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), also helped 75 of Rehman’s neighbors build tunnel farms, which help lengthen cropping seasons, intensify yields and boost local availability of fresh nutritious produce.  Rehman says his tomato plants are producing five to ten times as much as they would in an open field.

Farming vertically

Vertical gardens and microgardens have enjoyed new popularity in recent years, which the COVID-19 pandemic may catalyze further. The former are often high-tech urban facilities allowing vegetables to grow indoors or outdoors using hydroponics while the latter are tiny farming plots that fit in urban settings. Both can offer high-yield opportunities to grow leafy green vegetables and other high-value food crops. Restaurants are even engaging in a type of microgarden, also called “precision indoor farming”, thanks to a company in Budapest, Tungsram, that was the first to patent the modern light bulb. Today it produces a closet-sized cabinet with computer-controlled lighting and temperatures and an integrated hydroponics system that allows businesses to create their own indoor gardens with minimal labor. Vertical farms, on the other hand, are often large urban operations, housed in old warehouses or basements. Some practitioners can even duplicate conditions needed to grow the world-famous basil from Italy or the prized Omakase strawberry from Japan.

But vertical farming isn’t just a trend in developed countries. In Kibera, a densely populated part of Nairobi, households use sack gardens made from local sisal fibers to grow onions and spinach without blocking alleyways. In Kampala, locals stack wooden crates around a central composting chamber and use old plastic water bottles for a precision-drop irrigation system to grow kale. 

In Dakar, FAO helped galvanize microgardens as a food and nutrition strategy for poor households vulnerable to malnutrition. Today the city, with the participation of thousands of middle-class families, runs that program, which relies on one square meter structures made of coconut fibers to facilitate soil-less cultivation. “It’s ideal for short-cycle, high-value horticultural crops, including mushrooms and spices,” says Rémi Nono Womdim, Deputy Director of FAO’s Plant Production and Protection Division. 

There are a host of extra benefits compared to open-field farming, including the possibility to reduce water use, limit pesticide applications and produce year-round, garnering additional income and insurance against temporary interruptions of normal access to food, he says. In Cairo, elaborate rooftop gardens can reduce ambient temperatures by as much as seven degrees Celsius.

Urban farming & greener cities

A longtime advocate of engineering greener cities and a lead author of FAO’s landmark report on efforts to do so in lower-income cities, Nono Womdim estimates that more than 360 million urban residents in Africa and Latin America alone already engage in some form of urban or peri-urban horticulture. The trick is to recognize their efforts with policy frameworks that ensure they have access to necessary inputs – including some form of land tenure as well as access to water and energy. Urban gardens and shorter food supply chains also underscore how food security depends on access to nutritious food, Nono Womdim says. “Additional benefits include reducing food waste and minimizing packaging,” he adds.

Producing locally may not always be the answer, but as the COVID-19 emergency has highlighted, in times of crisis, every little bit helps in reducing food insecurity. By the same logic, rudimentary vertical farming makes a lot of sense in extreme and remote conditions. The case is even stronger for ensuring that food systems can innovatively respond to natural disasters, conflict, or the chronic stresses expected to intensify with climate change. 

That is why FAO is urging policymakers to facilitate shorter supply chains as a complement that can add sustainability, inclusion, and nutritional value to the world’s remarkably efficient production systems for staple carbohydrates. In the Khyber highlands, Rehman agrees. He’s already installed an additional tunnel unit at his own expense and enjoys his transformation from someone who always had to look for extra income to support his family to someone keen to keep his children in school and who people in the region seek out for advice. “I am very motivated now,” he says.

FAO News

Tags: COVID-19, FOOD CRISIS, FOOD INSECURITY, FOOD SECURITY, VULNERABLE COMMUNITIES, FOOD CHAIN, AGRICULTURE, FARMERS, CLIMATE CHANGE, CLIMATE-SMART AGRICULTURE,

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The Decarbonization Promise of Indoor Agriculture is Still in The Seed Stage

By Jim Giles

May 21, 2020

Here’s a tale of two chefs.

Both are based in the Midwest and both are preparing a Caesar salad. One uses lettuce shipped from where much of our lettuce is grown: The fields around Monterey, California. The other sources her greens from a nearby indoor farm.

Out in Monterey, the farmer used diesel-powered machinery, pumped water, fertilizer, and pesticides. At the indoor farm, precision systems provided the lettuce with exactly the amount of water and nutrients the crop requires — and no more.

The pickers in California discarded lettuces that didn’t look perfect. That wasn't an issue indoors: Conditions are so well controlled that almost all the crops met consumers’ exacting standards. Finally, when the crop was packed and ready, the indoor farmer drove 20 miles or so to drop the lettuce at our chef’s restaurant. The Monterey produce had to travel 2,000 miles.

Which chef is preparing the more environmentally friendly salad?

Let’s start with the bad news. The story above about indoor farming, a tale about technology can produce dramatic environmental gains — it doesn’t hold true. The Monterey lettuce is currently the better bet, according to a new analysis from the WWF.

For places that are food-insecure, this could be a real game-changer.

The problem with indoor farming, also known as controlled environment agriculture, is the electric grid. Indoor farms use LEDs to light crops. In St. Louis, Missouri, the focus of the WWF study, two-thirds of electricity comes from fossil fuel plants that pump out health-damaging particulates and planet-warming carbon dioxide.

The WWF team combined these and other impacts into a single score that captures total environmental harm. Lettuce grown in St. Louis greenhouses, which supplement LEDs with natural light, scored twice as high as the conventional crop. In a vertical farm lit entirely by LEDs, the difference was threefold.

Now to the good news: Our chef who sources from a nearby indoor farm may not be making the best environmental choice today, but she likely will be soon.

That’s partly because if we look beyond energy use, indoor ag delivers clear benefits. Indoor systems require little or even no pesticides and generate 80 percent less waste. They use less space, which can free up land for biodiversity. The WWF study found that precision indoor water systems use 1 liter of water to produce a kilogram of lettuce; for field-grown lettuce, the figure is 150 liters.

Another reason is that indoor ag’s energy problem is likely to become less serious. Market forces are already adding renewables to the U.S. electricity mix and pushing out coal. Technology improvements in the pipeline also will cut energy use in indoor farms.

PlantLab, a Netherlands-based startup, has developed an LED that’s more efficient in indoor ag settings because it emits light at the exact wavelengths used for photosynthesis. New crop varieties from Precision Indoor Plants, a public-private partnership that is developing seeds specifically for indoor use, may require less light to grow.

This tech is at an early stage, which makes it tough to quantify the future impact. But the data we do have shows that a combination of efficiency improvements and grid decarbonization can make indoor farms a much better environmental choice for some crops. Cutting energy use also will lower costs, making indoor farms competitive on price. It’s fascinating to speculate about what would happen if both these trends came to fruition.

Indoor farms likely would diversify, for starters. At present, indoor farms in urban areas profitably can grow leafy greens but little else. If energy costs come down, cucumbers, berries, and tomatoes also might make financial sense, suggests Julia Kurnik, director of innovation startups for WWF.

When this project ends, key players will already be invested and ready to move ahead with building a pilot system that can be replicated worldwide ...

With more diverse output, the farms could become local hubs that would strengthen the food system’s resilience to extreme weather events and other shocks. "For places that are food-insecure, this could be a real game-changer," Kurnik added.

Venture capitalists already have seen this future; hundreds of millions of dollars have flowed to indoor farming companies in recent years. That’s essential if this industry is to grow, but it’s also great to see an organization such as the WWF in the mix.

After studying the potential, the WWF has convened a diverse group of stakeholders to map out the expansion of indoor ag in St. Louis. In addition to business execs and investors, the group includes civic and community leaders.

"By working as a group to make those decisions," explains the report, "when this project ends, key players will already be invested and ready to move ahead with building a pilot system that can be replicated worldwide, making food production more environmentally sustainable."

I’ll certainly be keeping tabs on progress in St. Louis, and with indoor ag more generally. If you know of a particular project or related technology that deserves a mention, drop me an email at jg@greenbiz.com.

This article was adapted from the GreenBiz Food Weekly newsletter. 

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Pandemic Proof: S2G Ventures on Why Resilient, Sustainable And Healthy Food Systems Are More Important Than Ever

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by guest 18 May 2020

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Sanjeev Krishnan

This is a guest post by Sanjeev Krishnan, Chief Investment Officer and Managing Director at S2G Ventures

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a global health and economic crisis like none we have seen in our lifetime. In the food supply chain, this has impacted employees that ensure that food is planted, harvested, and processed, grocery shelves are stocked and food is available to all people. It takes a global village to feed the world, and we have seen selfless sacrifice and silent grit to ensure the continuity of our food system. Because, if our food supply breaks down, this pandemic may move from a crisis to a catastrophe.

Over the past several month’s several cracks have shown up in the food supply chain. The pandemic is challenging the nature of our global supply chain, stressing logistics networks, and reinforcing the importance of labor. There are concerns about food nationalism, continued access to labor, and redefining the nature of food security from global to national systems. While now is the time for urgent action – from government and private sector – there is a need for longer-term investments required for building a more innovative and resilient future food system.

Our team at S2G Ventures spent several months researching and monitoring COVID-19 and its implications to better understand these questions, keeping a close eye on the news cycle, conducting extensive desktop research, and speaking with various experts across many fields. We spoke to epidemiologists, healthcare professionals, farmers, entrepreneurs, philanthropists, and other investors to gather insights and develop our perspective on the implications of COVID-19 on the world of food and agriculture. We have compiled our findings into a report that explores the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic to the food and agriculture industry and identifies the areas of innovation critical to building a healthier and more sustainable food system.

As an investor in companies across all stages of the food system, we believe our role in the recovery is to ensure we build a more stable, resilient, sustainable, and healthy system. We will continue to invest in entrepreneurs and innovations that are the catalysts for meaningful progress. Below, we offer a summary of our report, which can also be downloaded in full here.

Pandemics 101: A History of Recovery & Innovation

Taking a look back in time, the world suffered a deadly pandemic in 1918. The Spanish flu, whose origin is believed to be a farm outside of Kansas City, spread quickly across the globe. Although the world was not as connected, World War I was still ongoing, and troops were being shuttled between the United States and Europe. Between 1918 and 1919, the Spanish flu is believed to have infected nearly a third of the global population and killed between three and 20 percent of those who were infected. In the end it killed between 40 and 50 million people. In the years following the Spanish flu, there was a bright period of innovation that included the adoption of the Bell telephone and modern medicine. It was an event that helped shape the future.

Between the Spanish flu and today’s pandemic, there have been seven major epidemics or pandemics. Each varies in mortality, duration, and contagion, but ultimately all come to an end. The economic recovery period that follows a pandemic-induced recession is generally different from traditional economic recessions. Pandemic-induced recession recoveries have generally seen a V-shaped recovery, while traditional recessions have varied between V-, U-, W-, and L-shaped recoveries. The global financial crisis of 2008 saw an L-shaped recovery. Typically, economic recessions have a longer duration and deeper economic consequences.

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The coronavirus pandemic is unique among prior events. While many events have temporarily shut down regions, none have had the same global shutdown that we are currently facing today. So, despite being able to draw comparison and insights to learn from pandemic economics, the situation is different due to a staggering rise in globalization, digitalization across many sectors, and the rise of fiat currencies. Pandemic economic history teaches us that one of the hallmarks is that innovation plays a critical role in the future normal that emerges. As Professor Katherine A. Foss notes, “disease can permanently alter society, and often for the best by creating better practices and habits. Crisis sparks action and response.”

While the direct effect of COVID-19 is on the population – with infection rates, social distancing, and shelter-in-place restrictions and continued operations of only essential businesses – there are significant implications across many industries. The second-order consequences of coronavirus are reshaping industries, catalyzing innovation, and encouraging resilience in business planning. Although the lasting impact on many industries is unknown, we see exciting innovation accelerating across automation, telemedicine, virtual reality, and transparency systems (i.e., blockchain or similar technologies).

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Everyone Eats – Pandemic Proof Demand, but Supply?

While the food and agriculture sectors are generally more resilient in bad economic situations, there are several sub-sectors that rely heavily on in-person labor and are currently strained due to the unique social distancing pressures placed on businesses. One significant pressure point is meat processors. Several large meat companies have been forced to shutter processing facilities due to COVID-19 outbreaks. Smithfield had to shut down one of its pork processing facilities that supplied roughly 5 percent of the U.S. pork supply, while JBS had to close a Pennsylvania facility that processed beef. The second-order consequence of these closures is the farmer, who may be forced now to cull their herds of cattle and hogs. The strain on this pressure point affects not only the farmer but also the consumer. Wendy’s felt the effects of this during this past week when nearly one-fifth of all 1,043 locations ran out of beef.

While it will take an extended period of time to fully understand the implications of consumer purchasing data coming out of the pandemic – more specifically if the duration of the consumer behavior shift will be a ‘fad’ or ‘trend’ – certain areas of the market are seeing a quick adoption of trends that were previously accelerating. As slaughter-house closures have increased, plant-based meats sales have jumped 200 percent. Plant-based meats remain a small portion of the market, but this is a significant and notable demand signal from consumers.

Coronavirus is notably changing how consumers shop, prepare and consume food. Between 2009 and 2018, out-of-home eating rose from 50.1 percent to 54.4 percent of the market. Now, with social distancing limited the ability to eat at restaurants, many are turning to preparing food at home or ordering delivery or takeout. And, despite food being a resilient sector, the bifurcation between grocery and foodservice has become clear.

In the grocery store, private label market-share gains are poised to accelerate, as consumers tighten spending and look for value-focused alternatives. However, we expect consumers to prioritize a balance of value and better-for-you brands instead of a complete tradeoff to value, consistent with the consumer megatrend towards better-for-you products.

Taking a step back, and observing the broader food value chain, we observed three primary delivery vulnerabilities in the food system:

1. Agricultural inputs to farms (e.g., seeds, animal feed, fertilizer, et al.)

2. Farm products to processors, packagers, spot markets and export markets

3. Food to retail distribution

This is important because the global food system relies on a just-in-time economy, where inventory levels are intentionally kept low. Meaning, that regardless if there is enough supply in existence, it may not be able to reach its proper destination if the supply chain is disrupted.

China, which provides a good example because it is further along in the lifecycle of the pandemic, has been suffering from this problem in the last several months. Upstream and downstream logistics are a major challenge; at the ports, there are thousands of frozen meat containers piling up because the trucking has effectively collapsed. Meanwhile, ports are running out of power, stoking fears that much of the food currently stored there will go bad. There is also an American company that makes immunization equipment for chicken that said their containers had been docked at Chinese ports for four weeks. Although China is doing its best to ensure that the grain planting season is not missed, the logistics of this supply chain are making it increasingly difficult.

 The Future of Food – COVID-19 and Calories

While we continue to watch the situation and the strain it is placing on the food system, we view the common threat that could bridge the existing system to the future as technology. Consumer purchasing behavior coupled with innovation may drive changes in market share and pressure existing players in the market. Although we have not seen COVID-19 create a new trend, we have seen several trends that were in motion pre-coronavirus further accelerated by the pandemic, including alternative protein, indoor agriculture, digitalization of agriculture, and grocery and food as medicine.

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Although animal agriculture remains a large and growing market, the pandemic has exposed challenges with the industries long production cycles, centralized production and limited processing facilities. It has allowed for faster consumer adoption of alternative proteins, including plant-based protein, fungi, algae and other biomass concepts including cellular meat. Notably, some of these technologies are further along than other, for example plant-based protein has been a trend for several years, while cellular meat remains in a research and development phase. We continue to believe that whatever the next generation of protein is, it will be driven by production speed, price and taste.

A second trend we believe is accelerating is food as an immunity. The convergence of food, science and technology may unlock this sector and usher in a new era in microbiome, functional ingredients, precision and personalized nutrition and medical foods. Prior to COVID-19, this was largely driven by nutrition-related disease, but the pandemic has exposed at-risk populations, with approximately 90 percent of hospitalized patients having one or more underlying condition, with the most common underlying condition being obesity.

Beyond specific trend acceleration, several themes emerge throughout this research that we believe may be catalyzed and emerge in a post-COVID-19 world. Digitalization will likely be driven by dis-intermediation to allow for new relationships with the consumer and to reduce risk throughout the supply chain. Decentralized food systems allow for the automation of local (alternative protein and produce) and the reshaping of complex perishable supply chains to reduce shrink and waste. They are also more omnichannel congruent as e-commerce, specifically online grocery, adoption accelerates. De-commoditization in the food supply chain, coupled with technologies that place deflationary pressure on the industry, may help catalyze breeding for attributes beyond yield (taste, protein content, et al), a return to polyculture farming and a shift from a strict focus on yield to profit per acre. Lastly, food as an immunity has the potential to bridge healthcare and food production and consumption for the treatment of specific nutrition-related chronic lifestyle diseases, as well as change the future of brands to focus on unique, functional ingredients. a

Our full report, The Future of Food in the Age of COVID,  is available online.

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Sanjeev Krishnan, Chief Investment Officer and Managing Director at S2G Ventures

Sanjeev has nearly 20 years of experience in sourcing, executing, managing, and exiting venture and private equity investments, including a focus in agriculture and food companies. As Managing Director, Sanjeev is active in developing investments and managing portfolio companies including, serving on many portfolio company boards. His portfolio work ranges from genetics, crop protection, soil health, digital/IoT, crop insurance, merchandising, indoor agriculture, novel flavor, and ingredients, new protein development, unique processors, and brands that will feed this changing consumer.

He is passionate about the role of innovation, entrepreneurship, markets, and system investing as a theory of change. Sanjeev has worked in the intersection of sustainability, technology, and health in many regions, including Europe, Africa, Asia, and North America.  He has invested over $500 mm in venture and growth-stage firms throughout his career.

Sanjeev began investing as a co-founder of the life sciences practice of the IFC, the $99 billion private investment arm of the World Bank. His previous investment roles include CLSA Capital Partners, Global Environment Fund, World Bank Group’s IFC, and JPMorgan. Sanjeev is a graduate of the London School of Economics and Political Science.

About S2G Ventures: 

S2G Ventures (Seed to Growth) is a multi-stage venture fund investing in food and agriculture. The fund’s mission is to catalyze innovation to meet consumer demands for healthy and sustainable food. S2G has identified sectors across the food system that are ripe for change and is building a multi-stage portfolio including seed, venture, and growth-stage investments. Core areas of interest for S2G are agriculture, ingredients, infrastructure and logistics, IT and hardware, food safety and technology, retail and restaurants, and consumer brands.

For more information about S2G, visit www.s2gventures.com or connect with us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Why The World Wildlife Fund Is Trying To Spark An Indoor Farming Revolution

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05-18-20

The conservation organization is known for work protecting endangered animals, but now it’s starting to help push for broad solutions—such as a major plan to expand vertical farms in St. Louis in an attempt to prove that local farming can cut emissions.

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BY ADELE PETERS

A network of caves in St. Louis, Missouri, was once used for brewing beer before the advent of refrigeration. Now, the conservation organization World Wildlife Fund is interested in helping the city repurpose some of that unused space for indoor farming—in a new pilot that can demonstrate how the indoor agriculture industry can become more sustainable and a viable way to make the food system more resilient.

The organization is best known for its work to save iconic species, such as protecting tiger habitat or reducing demand for elephant ivory. But within a section of the nonprofit called the Markets Institute, it also studies trends in agriculture and ways to help lower the massive environmental footprint of growing food, from the energy and water used on farms to the impact of clearing forests to make room for farmland.

The institute, launched in 2016, works with partners across the food industry on challenges such as how to prevent food waste or how to deal with impacts from climate change in the cocoa industry supply chain. The organization recognizes that the entire food system needs to change to protect nature, and it can play a role in catalyzing that change in the business world.

“We’re looking for new business models, new strategies and partnerships, and different ways of approaching things that are financially profitable as well as environmentally sustainable,” says Julia Kurnik, director of innovation startups at World Wildlife Fund. “Our goal as an institute is to find things that can happen quickly and at scale, so that’s why we’re interested in making sure they can really take off and live beyond our investment.”

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Image: World Wildlife Fund]

It saw promise in the nascent indoor farming industry. Companies that grow produce in greenhouses, or stacked in vertical units inside warehouses, can grow more food on far less land than traditional farming, leaving room for forests to stay in place or be replanted. The methods they use to grow food without soil also use far less water. If indoor farms are distributed in cities, they can also help avoid the carbon footprint of trucking produce thousands of miles across the country. Because the spaces are sealed and insects can’t get in, they can also avoid pesticide use; the produce is also more uniformly perfect and gets to customers more quickly, so there’s less food waste; the farms also aren’t affected by extreme weather outside, so crops won’t be lost in storms or impacts from a changing climate.

Image: World Wildlife Fund

Still, indoor farms aren’t environmentally perfect. In a new report, World Wildlife Fund examined the total environmental footprint of growing lettuce on fields in California versus a hypothetical indoor farm in St. Louis. The organization chose St. Louis for its study and pilot after searching for cities that met a certain list of criteria—a climate that doesn’t allow for year-round growing, a large population, and stranded assets that could be used as infrastructure for growing food. Because of St. Louis’s unique industrial infrastructure, including the abandoned caves, it was chosen from a shortlist of 10 cities. (WWF is not investing in the projects itself, just helping set up the infrastructure for governments and companies to work together on the effort.)

In its study of the potential of indoor farming in St. Louis, the organization confirmed that soilless indoor growing can save land and water, but the researchers also identified challenges. The lights used to grow crops indoors use large amounts of energy, though the technology has become more efficient, and generate so much heat that greenhouses often have to use air-conditioning to maintain a steady temperature, even in the winter. If you grow lettuce in Monterey, California—in a region where much of the country’s lettuce is grown—and ship it to St. Louis, the carbon footprint is lower than growing in a standard indoor farm in St. Louis now. That’s because St. Louis still gets most of its energy from coal, and that outweighs the footprint of driving lettuce long distances in a refrigerated truck or the benefits from avoiding pesticides or food waste.

The report also examines ways that the industry could shrink that footprint, from fiber-optic tech that can bring sunlight into a room to options for renewable energy. If the farms can use less energy, there’s also an economic benefit—and that will begin to make it possible for companies in the industry to expand beyond growing leafy greens. Greens such as lettuce and spinach are common now in indoor farms because they grow more quickly than, say, strawberries or tomatoes, and they fit within the economics of current growing systems.

In St. Louis, the nonprofit is bringing together a group of stakeholders, including existing indoor farming companies, local plant science experts, community groups, the local power company, potential funders, and potential customers such as grocery stores, to test new alternatives. Several types of unused or underused infrastructure may work as farming space, such as cold storage in postal hubs, or space next to power plants that can take the excess heat from an indoor farm and convert that into energy.

The city’s caves are of interest because they’re naturally cool, helping offset the need for air-conditioning. By the end of the year, the aim is to have an agreement for a pilot design, either a single farm or a network of farms, that can be built in the city in 2021. “We won’t build the farm or own the farm,” says Kurnik. “Our model here is to bring all the players together.”

Once the pilot proves how well the new approaches work, that can be shared more broadly with the industry. The project may also be able to share some knowledge about technology such as automation, which can help bring down the cost of growing. (Labor is a major expense at indoor farms, and robots can help address that, while also spurring the creation of some more highly paid jobs in the industry than farm labor.) Right now, existing farms “are each investing in their own technology and R&D,” she says. “If there were standardizations across some of that, it might be able to boost the entire industry.”

Communities outside St. Louis will also be able to learn from the pilot, both as a way to reduce the environmental footprint of their local food supply and a way to make the supply chain more likely to survive disruption from climate change. While interest in indoor agriculture is already growing in some areas—for instance, water-starved Abu Dhabi, which wants to create a more resilient food system that doesn’t rely as much on imports—it could eventually be much more widely used elsewhere if the energy and economic issues can be addressed. In California, increasing drought may eventually make traditional farming less and less feasible. Other impacts from climate change, including extreme heat and increasing storms and floods, are also beginning to make traditional farming more difficult. Indoor farming “has potential to be one tool in the toolbox for tackling those things,” says Kurnik.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Adele Peters is a staff writer at Fast Company who focuses on solutions to some of the world's largest problems, from climate change to homelessness. Previously, she worked with GOOD, BioLite, and the Sustainable Products and Solutions program at UC Berkeley, and contributed to the second edition of the bestselling book "Worldchanging: A User's Guide for the 21st Century."

Elevate Farms Executes Agreement to Bring Food Security to The Yukon and Other Isolated Northern Territories of Canada

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TORONTO, May 12, 2020

(GLOBE NEWSWIRE)

Elevate Farms Inc. (“Elevate” or “Elevate Farms”) is pleased to announce it has entered into an agreement (“Agreement”) for an initial build-out commitment of US $10,000,000 with North Star Agriculture Corp. (“North Star” or “North Star Agriculture”) to bring Elevate’s proprietary vertical farming, and cost-effective ‎‎‎production of leafy green vegetables, to the Yukon and other isolated northern territories of Canada.  Elevate and North Star have agreed to develop and construct a series of automated large-scale facilities (“CEF Facilities”) dedicated to the mass ‎production of leafy green plants implementing, among other techniques, the use of patented ‎LED lighting, moving to grow ‎boxes and controlled growth environments (“CEF Technologies”).

The Agreement contemplates the development of CEF Facilities for the production and supply of leafy green plants employing financing, as well as operations and retail expertise, from North Star and industrial and technical support of the CEF Technologies from Elevate. Each element of the process of development of the CEF Facilities are‎ conditional upon the completion of supporting documentation including the settlement of ‎definitive agreements including, but not limited to, shareholders’ agreement, reverse ‎vesting agreement, licensing ‎‎agreement, and supply agreement. Each CEF Facility, once complete and operational, is expected to produce an estimated 10-tons (9,100 kilograms) of leafy green vegetables per week, which is the equivalent to in excess of 1,000,000 pounds (473,200 kilograms) of leafy green vegetables per year.

Amin Jadavji, Elevate Farm’s Founder and CEO‎, stated “We are extremely excited to partner with North Star to bring food security and nutrition to a particularly isolated and vulnerable region of Canada. This is Elevate Farms’ second Canadian million-pound facility for which Elevate has secured financing commitments - with significantly larger faculties already financed in New Jersey, USA and in Hamilton, New Zealand. Elevate is making excellent progress in executing our plan on creating a global brand in the area of food security and local sustainability.”

Sonny Gray, CEO of North Star, stated: “North Star Agriculture is committed to #FeedtheNorth by developing a variety of food security based projects and initiatives. Our partnership with Elevate perfectly unites with our goal of developing agriculture ‘north of 60’ with the aid of modern technology and sustainable farming practices.”

Travis Kanellos, Elevate Farm’s Chief Strategy Officer stated: “Food security, as defined by the United Nations' Committee on World ‎‎Food Security, means that all people, at all times, have physical, social, ‎‎and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets ‎‎their food preferences and dietary needs for an active and healthy life. ‎‎As we have become aware, broken links in supply chains, ‎‎at home and abroad, have become all-too-real as communities ‎‎implement travel and supply restrictions to combat COVID-19‎. The underlying causes of food insecurity are not only drought and conflict in faraway lands but also distribution and access concerns in the end user’s locality.”

Amin continued, “Our vertical farming solution provides fresh and healthy leafy green ‎vegetables - the only vegetables that cannot be frozen for later ‎consumption - by securing availability, access, use, and utilization, as ‎well as increased general stability with the potential for years-long self-‎sufficiency during uncertain times which may include events such as ‎government-mandated quarantine and self-isolation. Elevate’s patented food production solution goes a long way to solve the ‎issues facing the North, and other dependant environments affected as ‎they may be difficult to reach regions or fragile ecosystems. ”‎

ABOUT ELEVATE FARMS

Elevate Farms Inc., previously operating corporately as Intravision Greens Inc., is a technology-driven vertically-stacked indoor farming enterprise focused on a mass scale and cost-effective operations with patent secured and patent-pending technology as well as over a decade of advanced photobiology research deployed. 

www.elevate.farm

Amin Jadavji
ajadavji@elevate.farm

IGS Announces Referral Partnership With IREP in Middle East

Agritech Business Gains A Greater Presence In Middle Eastern Markets

Indoor agritech specialist IGS has today announced a referral partnership agreement with International Real Estate Partners (IREP), the international facilities management firm. The agreement is specifically focused on indoor vertical farming for the UAE and Saudi Arabian markets. 

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The agreement will enhance the capacity for IGS to service the Middle East market and bring greater opportunity to secure and deploy vertical farming platforms across the region. IREP’s presence in this market is well established with many existing customers across agriculture, retail, and construction. The agreement establishes the opportunity for IREP to refer potential customers and support in the deployment, construction, and management of vertical farms.

The highly sophisticated plug-and-play vertical farming technology developed by IGS assures the efficient production of food in any location in the world. The modular indoor farms offer a highly controllable platform designed to maximize productivity whilst minimizing energy consumption and allowing the production of consistently high-quality produce at scale.

Ole Mygind, Managing Director of IGS Agri business commented: “The signing of this agreement is a very positive step forward for both IGS and IREP in the future deployment of vertical farming platforms in the Middle East. The imperative need for systems such as ours has been highlighted in the last few weeks as global reliance on complex food supply chains has been dramatically impacted.

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“Many countries around the world have plans to secure an independent and sustainable food supply chain. Vertical farming can be a key part of that solution, we believe, particularly in areas where arable land is minimal and there is a high reliance on importing food. These systems offer a secure, controlled environment, independent of weather and location to provide a sustainable, secure food supply across a range of crops.” 

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Christina Porter from IREP commented: “We have been working with IGS since 2018 to enable its entry into the UAE and Saudi Arabian markets. We wholeheartedly believe that IGS’s vertical farming technology is best-in-class, and with an excellent management team behind it, that it can be the solution that many clients in the region are now looking for to address food security and sustainability. Through this agreement, IREP will work very closely with the IGS management team to ensure that its product penetrates the market here and is delivered in a very effective and efficient way.” 

IGS has designed all its products to be highly pragmatic, flexible, modular, and scalable in line with market requirements.

The R&D team at IGS has developed, patented, and productized a breakthrough, IoT-enabled power and communications platform consisting of patented electrical, electronic and mechanical technologies as well as the world’s most sophisticated ventilation system for its Growth platform. All this is managed by a SaaS and data platform using AI to deliver economic and operational benefits to indoor environments across the globe.

Ends

About IGS:

Founded in 2013, IGS brought together decades of farming and engineering experience to create an agritech business with a vision to revolutionize the indoor growing market. Its commitment to innovation has continued apace and it has evolved the applications of its technology beyond agriculture to create solutions for a wide variety of indoor environments that enhance life for people, plants, and animals.

IGS launched its first vertical farming demonstration facility in August 2018.

For more information visit www.intelligentgrowthsolutions.com

About IREP

IREP is a multi-discipline management services firm operating in 25 countries, with its headquarters in Dubai. 

We incorporate a high-level structure in all departments that include;

• Facilities Management

• Asset & Energy Management

• Agri-Tech & IoT

• Real Estate Advisory

For more information visit www.irepartners.com